Michelle Obama surprises Oscars by presenting Best Picture award – U.S. first lady Michelle Obama made a surprise and unprecedented appearance on Sunday’s Oscars telecast when she presented the award for Best Picture, the first time a president or first lady has ever presented an Academy Award.Appearing live on screen from the White House in Washington, almost 3,000 miles from the Oscars ceremony in Hollywood, Obama praised the work of the movie industry before announcing the Iran hostage drama “Argo” the Best Picture winner.

Democrats and Republicans Miscalculate on Automatic Cuts – With Congress unlikely to stop deep automatic spending cuts that will strike hard at the military, the fiscal stalemate is highlighting a significant shift in the Republican Party: lawmakers most keenly dedicated to shrinking the size of government are now more dominant than the bloc committed foremost to a robust national defense, particularly in the House.

GOP 2016: Governors vs. D.C. insiders – Forget the establishment versus the tea party, or social conservatives versus fiscal conservatives. Of all the tensions within the Republican Party, the dynamic that may loom largest for 2016 is this: Washington versus the rest of America.Here in the nation’s capital, GOP speculation about the next presidential race focuses on a handful of federal officials: Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul.

Hijacking Immigration? – Since 1985, when Tanton, using his position at FAIR and U.S. Inc., created CIS, it has attempted to become the scholarly face of the immigration restrictionist establishment.162 CIS is supposed to “[b]uild the intellectual basis for immigration law reform”163 by supplying information to FAIR and other anti-immigration activists. The same environmentalist, abortion, and population-control ideology permeates CIS, its funders, and founders.Mark Krikorian, the current executive director of CIS, used to work for FAIR. When asked about the ties among CIS, population-control groups, and John Tanton, he stated:The center [CIS] has no views on population control, no views on China’s one child policy, or anything else. The guy you mentioned, John Tanton, he’s an eye doctor or retired doctor, he helped arrange our first grant, he’s a population guy, Malthusian in a lot of ways, has never been on our board, doesn’t know where our offices are, never told or had any hand in the opinions, development, or views of the research of the center in any way. I met him a couple times and he seems like an affable enough guy, but what do I know, and what do I care.164

Tanton’s own writings to donors and others contradict Krikorian’s statement. As noted earlier, Tanton told Cordelia Scaife in a letter that “For credibility this will need to be independent of FAIR, though the Center for Immigration Studies, as we’re calling it, is starting off as a project of FAIR.”165 CIS’s supposed independence from FAIR was a façade. Tanton was intimately involved with its founding and guided its positions from the start. As late as 1994, Tanton’s front group U.S. Inc continued to funnel money to CIS.166 Tanton arranged a lot more than a first grant for CIS—he created it, funded it, and provided its ideology.

McCain responds to ‘jerk’ comment at town hall meeting – One day after a confrontation at a town hall meeting in Sun Lakes, Senator John McCain held another town hall in Phoenix.
On Tuesday, an audience member of the town hall meeting fired off a string of heated questions about border security.
After attempting to answer some of the questions, Sen. McCain eventually quipped, “Occasionally I get a jerk like that guy.”
3TV asked McCain whether he regretted calling the man a jerk.
“Of course not. I call people jerks all the time, and they call me jerks. It’s supposed to be fun, loosen up,” Sen. McCain responded. “I’ve done town halls for years. They are vigorous and a little combative. That’s what it is supposed to be about. Loosen up.”
Before the floor was opened up to audience members for questions Wednesday, McCain outlined his plan for immigration reform, including a border fence and drones.

New York Governor David Paterson and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani

Not a good week for New York Governor David Paterson. He appoints Blue Dog Democrat Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand to Hillary Clinton’s U.S. Senate seat and trashes Caroline Kennedy in the process. The LEFT and the Kennedy Klan are pissed and may gun for him at Democrat Primary time.

Now, the latest Marist poll has him losing to Mayor Michael Bloomberg and tied with Rudy Giuliani in a 2010 race for re-election as New York Governor.

If the 2010 election for governor were held today, Paterson would lose when matched against New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. 47% say they would rather vote for Bloomberg compared with 41% who say they would cast their ballot for the incumbent governor. Bloomberg has consistently been a formidable potential opponent. While Paterson edged out Bloomberg by four percentage points in Maristâ€™s November survey, Bloomberg outpaced Paterson by 11 percentage points in October. Paterson has also lost ground when matched up against former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. In Maristâ€™s previous polls, Paterson repeatedly distanced himself from the Republican. His hypothetical lead in November was 10 percentage points. Currently, Paterson and Giuliani are in a statistical dead heat. Paterson receives 46% of votersâ€™ support while Giuliani garners 47%.

The New York Democrat Party is not stupid and David Paterson is a sure loser to Bloomberg or Giuliani in 2010. The Dems will convince Paterson to accept some federal appointment from Obama and run Andrew Cuomo, Jr. as their Governor nominee.

Supriya Jindal, wife of Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, center, flanked by former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, left, and Cindy McCain, wife of Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., take part in a campaign stop in Philadelphia, Monday, Oct. 20, 2008

Mayor Bloomberg‘s bombshell decision to seek a third term in office may lead to a furious battle with his predecessor and sometime antagonist, Rudy Giuliani, according to an intriguing scenario being discussed in high-level political circles.

The first part of the scenario is widely accepted: that if Bloomberg, who has flirted with running for governor, changes the City Charter and wins a third term, Gov. Paterson is certain to run for election in 2010.

Sources close to Paterson said the governor would likely have bowed out of the race if the popular Bloomberg had decided to run for governor.

The second part involves Giuliani’s not very-well-disguised interest in becoming the Republican candidate for governor in two years – and recent polls suggest the failed presidential contender would have a good chance of defeating Paterson.

This is providing John McCain does NOT ask Rudy to be his Attorney General of the United States. Notwithstanding, Flap looks forward to many Rudy vs. Bloomberg fights in the coming years.